You lost your job because of the economy. You just broke up with your boyfriend, and your best friend is getting married Saturday. You graduated with an MBA, but have no career path. When all the nosy-bodies approach you during these challenging moments and ask the dreaded question, “now what,” on a scale of one to ten: how badly do you want to smack these uh-noying question-askers?

Well, before receiving a law suit on top of everything else, let’s put our hands to better use and grab a plate. Pancakes are the best meal to deal with life’s crossroads because they cater to all food types, and also represent the opportunistic path that lies before you.

When the yearn to stuff your face with crap during a breakup finally hits, pancakes are a great fix because there is such a rich variety of this comfort food. As per my pancake blog, Ma’amCakes, like that of a Starbucks menu you can find all types of pancakes that cater to your vegetarian, vegan, low-cal, low-soy, hipster diet, so you can stay healthy while dealing with one of life’s many challenges.

Based on my breakfast experiences, I’ve found the abundance of varying pancake concoctions to be almost metaphoric of the different flavors of men out there, who could be potential boyfriend material. Perhaps the diverse pancake menus represent the possibility of a new job, one in which you may never have even considered. Or maybe the truly out-of-this world pancakes – like the “Scotch on the Rocks” pancakes at The Griddle Café – symbolize your ability to follow a career path that’s off the beaten path.

When you’re at a road block, skip the “what’s next” question, and follow your own vision and creativity. Get messy! Why shouldn’t you? Life is! And when your mom says “don’t play with your food,” you go ahead and play. You know Betty Croker did. So get out there, and grab a fork. And when life hands you lemons, make some Ma’amCakes.

As Leslie is a resident of Downtown Los Angeles, and a USC alumn, at her recommendation we visited USC hot-spot Jacks n Joe on South Figueroa St and West Adams Blvd in Los Angeles, CA. As this restaurant was also recommended to me by a former intern (a current student at USC) I had pretty high expectations when pulling into the parking lot. Typically when my expectations are this high, I’m usually disappointed; in this case however – I was blown away with the first bite!

So with my blog, as you know by now, I typically post a photo I take of the menu; however, because Jacks n Joe’s pancake options are so intricate, I wanted to do the menu justice, and display how awesome these choices are by posting the menu directly from their website.

While dining at Jacks n Joe I found myself wanting to check out the creative names on the menu first, and then read the pancake descriptions! In fact, Leslie’s response to the menu was “You know, I never go out of my way to eat pancakes, but I would definitely come back just for the selection!”

When stalling (as I seriously couldn’t decide which pancakes to order), I asked our server, Sonny (below), which are JnJs most popular pancakes, to which he replied “the Jack’s Banana Pancakes and the WTF?!”

Leslie jumped right in and ordered the Jack’s Banana Pancakes with no walnuts, and while I was eyeing the Hula Girl, I ordered the Pudgie Elvis. For a little added trivia, Sonny informed us that the Pudgie Elvis is actually named after the owners’ bulldog you see in the logo. Guess the dog ate too many pancakes!

Now, if I haven’t already mentioned this: I love peanut butter. I love peanut butter probably as much as I love pancakes. And the fact that I’ve never combined the two is unheard of, I know. But from the smell alone, I knew this breakfast was going to be one for the charts. Well, the quality of the Pudgie Elvis soared off the charts.

I’ve never had a pancake breakfast like this before. See, it’s actually somewhat easy to mess up a pancake-option like this, mainly with the peanut butter. You can easily pack on too much peanut butter, melt it too much, or not enough. Re-looking at this delicious drizzle of peanut butter over powdered sugar, fresh bananas, and fluffy pancakes, the Pudgie Elvis automatically receives 5 stars – er, stacks, as Leslie’s husband suggested. This dish was the perfect combination of peanut butter, powdered sugar, and banana. Somehow among all these luxurious ingredients, the pancakes were not a drop greasy, and can I tell you a secret? For the first time in my entire life I ate pancakes without putting on a hint of syrup.

Leslie’s Jack’s Banana Pancakes (minus the walnuts) tasted just as amazing as they looked. “Wow, the texture is perfect, and not heavy at all.” In fact, by the end of the meal, Leslie’s reaction was “I can’t believe I ate half of these without syrup – and the syrup is really good!” Well Leslie, it all goes back to Ma’amCakes’ motto that a truly delicious pancake doesn’t need syrup.

As Leslie boxed a tiny bit to go, she exclaimed “I didn’t mean to eat this much!” For our next visit to Jack’s n Joe, Leslie said she’s going to try the Ruby Belle, while I am going for the Hula Girl. In fact, while pondering “next time,” maybe the owners Jacks n Joe will let me interview them, and do a special feature on this wonderful USC-Family owned restaurant… thoughts? 0 : )

Hey, Leslie: I’d like to buy a vowel please, so I can give this restaurant an A+!

All in all, if I were to slightly alter the slogan for Jacks n Joe, it would read “A breakfast all day is Ma’amCakes’ kinda place!”

Thank you so much Leslie, for being a part of Saturday Brunch with Ma’amCakes!